Dr. Groff Presents at Energy Symposium
April 19, 2016–As part of her inauguration, Shepherd’s new President Mary J.C. Hendrix organized and moderated a symposium on Friday April 8th at 1 pm titled “The University’s Role in Translating Energy Challenges into Business and Employment Opportunities.” The symposium featured Michael Polsky, founder, president, and CEO of Invenergy LLC; Dr. Xingbo Liu, professor and associate chair of research at the West Virginia University Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources; and me, Dr. Jeffrey Groff, associate professor of physics in Shepherd’s Institute of Environmental and Physical Sciences. The slides for my talk are posted below. My remarks were on small scale distributed solar PV. As part of my talk I highlighted several local examples of distributed solar photovoltaic generators including the IESP Sustainability Site and the array I built in my back yard.
Groff Energy Symposium Talk – Small-Scale Distributed Solar Photovoltaics
Climate Change Course to be Offered Fall 2016
NASA global data sets combining historical measurements and simulation data are used to forcast how global temperature might change by 2100 due to greenhouse gas emissions. Photo Credit: NASA
March 26, 2016–Curious about the Earth’s climate in the past? Concerned about the impacts of anthropogenic climate change? Interesting in the science and politics of climate? Then register to take Climate Change (ENVS 299A, CRN 31487), being offered by the IEPS for the first time during the fall 2016 semester.
Dr. Mathews Publishes on Stink Bug Research
March 4, 2016–Dr. Mathews publishes research paper “Identifying a Potential Trap Crop for a Novel Insect Pest,Halyomorpha halys(Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), in Organic Farms,”inEnvironmental Entomologyin February.
Physical Computing Course Presented to the AAPT
September 2, 2015–Associate Professor of Physics Jeff Groff presented a talk to the American Associate of Physics Teachers (AAPT) on Monday, July 27th at the University of Maryland in College Park. The talk detailed his recently developed physical computing course, which is an Arduino-based course for artists, scientists, and environmental studies majors.
A physical computer is a digital device that senses and interacts with the analog environment. The physical computing course in an introductory course that aims to empower students to create physical computers of their own conception by teaching them electronics and microprocessor programming using the Arduino open hardware and software ecosystem. Elements of the course pedagogy such as open-ended problem solving allow students to discover that many problems have multiple solutions. Meanwhile, end-of-semester projects aim to establish a collaborative marketplace of ideas in the classroom. While all students propose an idea for a physical computer to the class, the students themselves select a small number of these projects to be pursued and funded.
Below are several videos highlighting some of the end-of-semester creations students made during the spring 2015 semester.
Stink Bugs Studied at Shepherd University
August 28, 2015–Link to full story published on the Herald-Mail Media website.
Clarissa Mathews Presents at National Meeting of Entomologists
November 8, 2014–Dr. Clarissa Mathews, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Chair of the IEPS, presented a talk titled “Fate of brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) eggs exposed to common generalist predators” at the 2014 Entomological Society of American National Meeting in Portland Oregon.